American Psycho
Thursday
Summary & Analysis

LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in American Psycho, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Materialism and Consumption

Identity and Isolation

Monotony and Desensitization

Vice and Violence

The Truth

Summary

Analysis

Bateman is in a cab to Nell’s with McDermott and Courtney; they’re discussing bottled water and trying to name as many brands as possible. They go on for quite some time, arguing the specificities of water and how it should be served, before Courtney sheepishly admits that she doesn’t really understand the differences. The men dive into the conversation, but Bateman’s mind begins to wander. He’s thinking of Bethany’s body decomposing in his apartment and when and how he should get rid of it.

Once again there seem to be no repercussions following Bateman’s murderous acts, and he appears to have returned to his typical routine, carrying on an exaggeratedly mundane and monotonous conversation with Courtney and McDermott about bottled water. Meanwhile, Bateman’s focus is on the body in his apartment.

Active
Themes

Earlier in the evening, they had all been at a Morgan Stanley party, where they mingled with others and did a lot of cocaine. Now in the cab, they still can’t stop talking about bottled water – it’s the best fluid replacer for the body. The night continues in the same fashion. Later, back at his apartment, Bateman is drinking a scotch and standing above Bethany’s body, looking at himself in the pool of her blood. He takes her sawed-off arm and hits her in the head with it, breaking off her jaw and crushing in her face completely.

Bateman can’t stop thinking of Bethany’s decomposing body, obsessing over what he did to her – even his favorite drugs and monotonous conversation can’t distract him. In a grisly image of narcissism, he stands above her body, proudly gazing at his reflection in her blood and making a final effort to destroy her corpse just for his own amusement. He is in total control over this dead body, and control is everything to him.